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It’s been a few weeks since I got back from Fall Quilt Market in Houston, and I thought I’d round up a few of the things I enjoyed this time around. Sadly, I did miss a bunch of great stuff since I only had my phone (this was the first year I left my camera at home), so please don’t be offended if I didn’t include your stuff, awesome designers who I missed!!! I always enjoy seeing the booths and the new fabrics at Quilt Market, at least in the handful of booths that are modern, and it’s always fun to catch up with other designers and fabric shop owners. My new line Small World was also debuting on strike-offs at the Cloud9 booth, so of course I was also shamelessly showing those off. They have their own post right here if you want to see them. Also, please note that I’m not going to link to all the lines/designers in this post, because otherwise I’d never get this post published. You understand.

Ok, so what did I love? Carolyn Friedlander’s stuff was amazeballs as usual:

The Kokka booth is always a little overwhelming but I loved the dress on the right:

Ellen Luckett Baker’s Charms line for Kokka is really great. Metallics and voile and canvas!! Love the persimmon and sheep prints the mostest.

Cotton+Steel had a fantastic follow-up to their debut lines earlier this year, including my absolute fave, the double gauzes. Which had their own booth, complete with some Made By Rae samples (can you spot them??). The samples I made for Stylo ended up in the booth so that was very fun.

Dying over this octopus lawn designed by Sarah Watts for Cotton+Steel:

One of my favorite Melody Miller prints is back (so are the viewmasters!!):

I wish I had gotten better photos of Alison Glass’ Handprinted collection; I’m dying over the plus prints. Her entire booth was gorgeous.

Some great organic knits from Monaluna:

Birch also had some fantastic new organic knits, including another line of Charley Harper (yay!!), but I didn’t get any good photos.

Katy Jones has a new line, Priory Square, with Art Gallery and was autographing books like a boss. Also: fun quilt!

April Rhode’s new line, Wanderer, is fantastic. I loved the faux camper look she had over in the Art Gallery booth.

Also from AGF, Leah Duncan’s new line Morning Walk is so great. She makes some of my very favorite designs.

I really need to make one of these yarn fabric thingys:

I can’t stop thinking about this new baby layette sewing pattern set from Green Bee Patterns:

Fun GeoPop canvas prints from Emmie K for Robert Kaufman, one print was even made up in my square floor pillow tutorial!

I also loved a bunch of lines at Cloud9; I know this is going to sound biased, but they’ve really gotten some amazing designers this year. One is Elizabeth Olwen, and I wish I had managed to get a good photo of her stuff because it is really great. Another fave is Jessica Jones; her line Time Warp is coming out soon on barkcloth, which is perhaps my new favorite substrate:

This Butterick coat in Time Warp (sewn by my friend Karen LePage woot!) is crazy cool:

and Biology from Sarah Watson.

And of course it’s always a thrill to see my own lines still going strong over in the Cloud 9 booth. Yay!!

OK, now for my thoughts on Quilt Market in general: The first time I attended Quilt Market in Kansas City in the spring of hmmm can’t remember now (2012?), I found it to be immensely fun and exciting; I find that the more I attend, the less this is true. I’m pretty sure the big reason this time was having a baby attached to me at all times — there are no strollers allowed on the QM floor, which is another rant for another time — so I wore him the whole time and got pretty tired, much as I love my little guy. It’s also getting harder for me to justify the cost of flying out and staying in a hotel for a few days. Showing up to see all of the samples we’ve sewn at the studio for various booths is fun; but that alone definitely does not justify the trip.

In the beginning, I attended because I needed a printer for my print patterns, to bring my fabric design portfolio to various manufacturers, and because as a blogger I felt that I had the ability to draw more attention to modern fabric designers with my blog, and I wanted to support those designers as much as I could. The trip had the added benefit of allowing me to meet shop owners who I could connect with.

As time passes, though, the benefit of attending decreases as it becomes less likely that I will make new connections, if that makes sense. I know that may sound blunt, but I want to mention these things because I’m becoming more convinced of how important it is for creatives who are in business to talk about the costs of things, and not just do things for free or for fun, or just because they “love it.” While I do love being a creative business-person, I want to encourage those who are thinking of trying to make a living through design to be realistic about the numbers. Recent blog posts by Abby Glassenberg of While She Naps (“An Inside Look at What Fabric Designers Earn“) and Kristin Link of Sew Mama Sew (“Let’s Talk about this: Do what you love and the money will follow“) about the creative industry are REALLY good reads if you find these topics interesting.

Anyway, I want to outline some of the reasons I go because I think in the past I’ve made it sound like I go just to go — that’s not exactly true; it’s always been a business decision in one way or another. It’s not always the *best* business decision for me, but sometimes you learn that kind of thing the hard way.

Just came back last night from a really fun weekend in Houston at Fall Quilt Market!!! Quilt Market is a trade show for shops and fabric designers (and other quilting and sewing related industry), but the best part for me is seeing the new fabric lines. Here were some of the highlights for me:

The Big Splash Award this year definitely goes to Cotton and Steel, a new division of RJR Fabrics that was founded by Melody Miller. Melody is joined by Kim Kight, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Sarah Watts, and Alexia Abegg in this collaborative design project, and the excitement they’ve drummed up is quite fun.

No peek at the fabric prints yet (they’ll show at spring Market in Pittsburgh), but they had a set of wonderful solids on display in their booth that are really lovely, the names of the collections by each designer displayed, and you can watch their promo video here and check out the new website . The thing I am most excited about hands-down is the promise of apparel fabrics, and with this dream team designing the prints, it’s sure to be spectacular.

I always really enjoy Anna Maria Horner’s booth. This year she was showing two new lines, Dowry and True Colors, a line of “not-so-solid solids.” Normally I fall for the larger scale lines but True Colors with its small scale and deep hues is one of my favorites.

Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics is another line I’m crazy about for its bold and not-so-bold hues and subtle designs. Her two booths were both great. Another hit line after her VERY popular debut line, Architextures.

Me and Carolyn and Jessica (my cousin who also happens to be my lovely assistant! Don’t you love her Washi + Bow??)

Leah Duncan’s Meadow line for Art Gallery Fabrics is another favorite of mine this year. You may remember how much I loved Tule, and Leah has really hit it out of the park again with Meadow. Her warm bold yellow, orange, and green hues are really great.

Sarah Jane is back with another illustrative children’s line that is really sweet. Another fantastic line that evokes the imaginative world of childhood. There are HORSES. Need I say more?

Lizzy House (fabric designer, wish I had gotten pics of her new line with kitty cats and mice!!):

and Monaluna designer Jennifer Moore:

And of course, I had to make sure to include a picture of me with Elli (my sister) and Jess, who kept me company the whole weekend! We bear quite the family resemblance, don’t you think?

There’s one more line that I seem to have completely forgotten to include…hmmm…oh yes! That would be MY NEW LINE for Cloud9, Lotus Pond! How silly of me! I’ll just have to do a preview post soon so you can see it. Or you can stalk my Instagram and see peeks over there.

Yes, I’m posting Quilt Market pics three months after the fact. A little strange? Maybe, but it made more sense to post them now that these fabrics are actually hitting shops. I hope you enjoy my favorites from this fun trade event!

Here’s another one of my favorite booths from Quilt Market this past May, featuring Tule, a new line by Leah Duncan for Art Gallery Fabrics. The booth and fabrics were all absolutely spectacular. From talking to other people about it, it was clearly a favorite of everyone at Quilt Market!!

Check out the great furniture in this booth. I love the white molded Eames chairs and that awesome couch. There’s Leah!

A lovely low-volume quilt…

Fabric wallpaper??? Can I do this in my house? I need to talk to Leah about how she did this.

I just adore this line — the colors and prints are really spectacular, what a job well done by Leah and Art Gallery! Tule is just arriving in online and local shops as of this week; you can check my sponsor links for Tule if you need a place to start. You can see the entire line over at the Art Gallery Website.

OK, just a couple more pictures from the Art Gallery booth that don’t really fit anywhere but deserve to be posted…check out this amazing dress made completely out of Art Gallery prints!

Isn’t that incredible? I don’t even want to know how long it would take to put that together. So amazing! I wonder if anyone will ever wear it.

And I loved these stacks of colorful books and pillows too. Such a fun way to display new prints.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned for more of my Quilt Market favorites!

I’ve decided to do my Quilt Market blog posts a little differently this year; instead of posting Quilt Market pics back in May (which is when the most recent Quilt Market was held, in Portland), I figured it might be more fun to see the fabrics and booths WHEN they are available. That way you don’t have to wait three months until you can go out and buy them! Since most of the fabrics that were shown at Quilt Market this year had July and August release dates, it seemed like it might be fun to show them off on the blog now that they’re hitting shops or already available. How does that sound?

Let’s start with one of my favorite designers (and friend!), Rashida Coleman-Hale. I am a huge fan of Rashida’s designs, and I’ve already sewn with a number of the Tsuru fabrics already, including one of my favorite Washi Dresses to date. Her new line, Koi, is just as amazing and is now arriving in shops (as of this week, I think)! These pics show her amazing booth at Quilt Market Portland, complete with bits of color, the sweetest samples sewn up in Tsuru and Koi, and a vintage newsprint wall. I understand the newsprint concept was completely impromptu, after her initial wall plan fell through. I loved the effect of the yellowed newsprint on the walls!

This booth showed both her Tsuru and Koi lines, and Rashida had swatches of voile in the booth as well (Koi will be printed in a few prints on canvas AND voile, in addition to the main quilting cotton line…woot!!).

As you can see, I coordinated well with the Tsuru chair.

Love this girl!!! And love the new line. Koi is available now in online and local fabric shops — you can check the sponsor links on my blog for Koi and Tsuru (which is still around in certain prints here and there)! You can see the whole line over at Cloud 9 as well.

I love Melody. She is first and foremost one of the sweetest individuals on the planet. On top of that she is a brilliant designer. You probably already know that I sew with her fabrics frequently. I love the funky retro vintage-inspired vibe they have (the Ruby Star Washi dress was the most recent example of this). I’m even more thrilled with her newest line, Ruby Star Sparkle, which features prints that literally…wait for it…GLITTER. I know.

There was a lovely collection of vintage toys strewn around the booth, many of them Fisher Price (LOVE!).

Also featured in the booth was Melody’s new book which I really really like, Ruby Star Wrapping which was co-written with creative partner Allison Tannery. Before I read it I thought, how many ways can you really wrap a present? Well it’s alot more than you’d think, let me tell you. The book is full of neat ideas that truly make me want to go and try them all out this Christmas. The fact that the main premise is to create wrappings that are also reusable, gifts in and of themselves, makes me love it even more. You can read the cool things that Melody has to say about the book in this post. Totally recommend!!

I’m working on a few posts to show you some of the fun things that were at Quilt Market in Houston this past weekend. First off though, I really want to show you my favorite NEW designer/line of fabric, Carolyn Friedlander’s Architextures for Robert Kaufman, which really blew me out of the water.

What’s interesting to me about this line is that the designs are SO subtle yet so detailed…I usually fall for big bold prints but this line really captured me with the beautiful lines and textures. This was the floor:

As an ex-science teacher, my favorite prints are definitely the topographical lines (how many times have I wished for a USGS quadrangle on fabric?), but all of the prints are really, really lovely.

These quilts make me want to quit sewing garments and become a full-time quilter. Seriously. How amazing are these little shirts. Do you see how the inside of the shirts are quilted with the back side of the fabric?? Are you seeing this???

I wish I could explain what was so hilarious about stumbling across this little set of canvases of Ty Pennington promoting his new line for Westmister at Quilt Market in Houston this past weekend. Perhaps it was just that I had been walking around for so long on Saturday and had talked to so many people and it was nearly 5 o’clock, but when I came across these, I just could not. stop. giggling. Is it the hat? His expression? I don’t know.

This booth was knocking everyone’s socks off. Melody managed to embody her entire look so effectively in one booth, and included so many awesome details and retro props that you wanted to steal the whole thing and bring it home with you.

Especially that couch.

Check out that adorable Booth Babe at far right with her awesome pink hair and fishnets. A.DOR.A.BLE. Shown with Karen LePage, me, and Rashida Coleman-Hale, who we had so much fun hanging out with. Rashida’s Washi fabric line was also on display at the Timeless Treasures booth and was oh-so-adorbs.

As you can see their prints are amazing. The chick who was handing out sample packs gets an A+ in marketing for making me feel like I got the only Liberty sample pack that existed in the universe. I think she actually said “don’t tell anyone” (to which I’m thinking, “we were both there when I told you I was a blogger…right?) and later it was funny how everyone had them. She needs a raise.

If i was a better woman I would have gotten a full shot of the thing so you could see how amazing this looked head-to-toe. Instead you have this poor shot of it sliding off of the mannequin’s boob. Oh well. Closeup:

Great cuckoo clock prints and cheerful colors from this new designer for Andover. How cute is that moss mountain? Cute enough to walk up and start playing with those softies (part of her new line, Storybook Lane), is what.

OK, so that’s my quick little round-up. There were so many more awesome things that I wanted to include in this post but couldn’t, so I tried to include the things here that really stuck out in my mind, but you can also see the rest of the things I thought photo-worthy or amazing by clicking through to the entire set:

*Quilt Market is a pretty amazing event. In a nutshell, it’s a trade show where all of the fabric manufacturers debut/display their new and current lines, and where thousands of fabric shop owners come to place orders for fabric, notions, and sewing patterns. This means that someone like me doesn’t exactly “belong” at quilt market, but it’s a great place to go if you have people you want to meet with to grow your sewing-related business. In addition, over the past few years more and more bloggers go to quilt market because it’s a visual feast for any fabric lover. I think it started with the fabric designers who blogged about their trips to Quilt Market, which in turn made other sewing bloggers want to go. It’s also a good excuse to meet all kinds of designers and craft book authors, who we’ve “celebritized” as we’ve come to admire their work. They’re like sitting ducks in their booths, poor things.

I also want to say one other thing, what I feel like almost no one is saying outloud because they don’t want to be rude. Quilt Market is a trade show, not a fashion show, so picture miles and miles of booths that all look alike, and then throw in the fluorescent lights and you have yourself a pretty good picture. The vast majority of Quilt Market is not “fresh” or “modern.” Most of the quilts at Quilt Market were not my taste at all (though I do want to go on record as saying that they are extraordinarily beautiful when considered in terms of craftsmanship and number the hours it took to make them — these are skills that MUST be passed on to the next generation of quilters!!!). This is mainly because the biggest market for quilting fabrics and quilting patterns is still in the 60+ quilting crowd. This will change, certainly, but for now you can still see at Quilt Market a clear representation of the economics of the quilt industry, do you get me? Quilt Market It is NOT a blogger meetup, which is something I knew before I went, but I’m not sure everyone understands; for that you really need to go to Alt Summit or Sewing Summit.

Ellen wrote a great QM wrap-up post on her blog the long thread that is really spot on, which included all of the other great things at Market that I missed in this post, but also giving her (awesome) thoughts on what she would like to see from the quilting fabric industry. Be sure to take a look!